1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus and method for improved security for acquisition and contention burst activity in a communication network.
2. Description of the Related Art
A hub in a communication network may broadcast a burst time plan with allocation information for each time slot in a subsequent frame transmitted by remote terminals. The contents of the burst time plan transmitted by the hub and the contents of the subsequent frame transmitted by remote terminals may be encrypted to prevent an eavesdropper from accessing the communication content. However, encryption of the communication content may not prevent someone from detecting communication patterns of the network.
Techniques to hide traffic patterns are referred to as Transmission security (TRANSEC) techniques. These techniques include encrypting addressing information and filling otherwise empty data time slots with encrypted dummy traffic.
TRANSEC techniques are of particular interest in satellite communication because of the extensive coverage of the communications that make it more susceptible to interception at relatively longer distances from the source.
In a time division multiple access (TDMA) system or other related system with multiple remote terminals and multiple carriers of a given frequency and bandwidth divided into different time slots, time slot assignments may be broadcast to instruct the remote terminals to transmit a communication signal or burst response into their respectively assigned slots (sometimes referred to as “bursting into the time slot”) in the subsequent frame time.